96 1794 La.App. 1 Cir. 5/9/97, State v. Pooler

• Decision Date: 09 May 1997
• Citation: 696 So.2d 22
• Parties: 96 1794 La.App. 1 Cir
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US

Page 22

696 So.2d 22

96 1794 La.App. 1 Cir. 5/9/97

STATE of Louisiana v. Robert POOLER.

No. 96 KA 1794.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana First Circuit.

May 9, 1997.

Charlotte Hebert, Livingston, for State--Appellee.

Lloyd S. Sibley, Holden, for Defendant--Appellant.

Before LOTTINGER, C.J., and FOIL and FOGG, JJ.

[96 1794 La.App. 1 Cir. 2] FOGG, Judge.

The defendant, Robert Pooler, was charged by grand jury indictment with second degree murder, a violation of LSA-R.S. 14:30.1. The defendant pled not guilty, was tried by a jury, and was convicted as charged. The trial court sentenced the defendant to life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. The defendant has appealed, asserting thirty-two assignments of error. ¹

FACTS

The pertinent testimony from trial was as follows. Delphine Willis, the victim's mother, testified that the victim, Lois Ann Willis, lived in a house on the same property where she and her husband lived in Springfield, Louisiana, and that the victim ran a lounge, beauty shop, and pawn business on the property. Mrs. Willis saw the victim in the morning on March 30, 1993. That night, Mrs. Willis heard the victim slam the door to her bar very hard, a sign that she had closed the bar and was going home. Shortly afterward, at around 1:00 a.m., Mrs. Willis heard the dogs in her yard barking and went outside with a gun, which she shot into the air. Not hearing anything more, she went back inside. On March 31, 1993, Mrs. Willis did not see the victim in the morning; so she went to check on her around 1:30 or 2:00 p.m. She found the victim lying in bed, without any clothes on, "cut to death." She informed her husband, and he called the police. Mrs. Willis identified the defendant in court and testified he was not welcome at any of her children's houses, including that of the victim.

Deborah Prokop testified that, sometime in the afternoon of March 30, 1993, she picked up her ex-husband, Eddie Prokop, at [96 1794 La.App. 1 Cir. 3] his trailer in Springfield to get some rock cocaine. They went to the victim's bar to pick up a microwave oven Eddie had pawned. Deborah testified that her car had no clock or radio, nor did she or Eddie have a watch, but it was "probably just getting dark" the first time they went to the victim's bar. They returned to the victim's bar twice more to buy back a pawned item and to pawn another item. Then they went to Haynes Settlement, an area in Springfield about ten minutes away from the victim's bar, where Deborah saw the defendant, whom she knew, in front of his mother's and brother's trailer; he approached them, wanting a ride. Deborah refused, telling him they did not have much gas. According to Deborah, the defendant told them he would get them a dime rock for gas money if they would give him a ride. Deborah testified that the defendant appeared to be somewhat intoxicated and that she did not want to give him a ride because she had always "been intimidated" by the defendant. The defendant got into an argument with her and Eddie.

They left and eventually went back to the victim's bar to pawn something; Deborah pulled up in the driveway and parked. Eddie got out of the car and went to the door, which was locked. He walked around to the back of the building. Once she had stopped the car, Deborah noticed that the dogs were barking "real bad." She then saw a figure of a person "trying to hide itself." The figure ran towards and then past the car, and Deborah saw that the person was a black man of medium build who was taller than her. When Eddie returned to the car, she told him what she had seen and then they left.

Michael Friarson testified that he had known the defendant his entire life. He testified that he saw him twice, at about 9:30 p.m. on March 30, 1993, and at 12:30 a.m. on March 31, 1993, in Haynes Settlement. According to Friarson, at 12:30 the defendant told him he was waiting for a ride. Friarson said that he saw the defendant walk to his house about a block from where they were. Friarson testified that the defendant was a little drunk, that he was not wearing a watch or jewelry, and that he had on a white shirt, black pants, and black rubber boots.

[96 1794 La.App. 1 Cir. 4] Juanita Harris, who had known the defendant all her life and whose parents lived next door to the defendant's parents, testified that on March 31, 1993, she was awakened around 12:00 a.m. when the defendant knocked on her door. The defendant told her that her brother Danny, with whom he was friends, was in her driveway drunk and needed her help. The defendant told her to get the keys to her car so she could drive it to the end of her driveway and he could take Danny home. She called her mother and father for help with her brother, and they said he was at home in bed; her father came to her house about five minutes later. According to Harris, the defendant ran through the woods when her father drove up. Harris testified that her brother actually was home asleep in bed when the defendant came to her house.

Jamie Bridges, who testified he had known the defendant and the victim and went to the victim's bar frequently, saw the defendant before learning of the victim's murder. Bridges noticed the defendant was wearing a men's chrome watch with gold striping on the band and a black face. Bridges had seen one like it on the victim's arm and had asked her repeatedly if she wanted to sell it. Bridges asked the defendant if he could buy the watch. According to Bridges, the defendant said "he was going to keep it in memory of Lois Ann," then grinned and walked off.

Danny Jackson, Harris' brother, who had also known the defendant since childhood and was friends with him, and who also knew the victim, testified that on March 30, 1993, he spent most of the day drinking with the defendant. According to Jackson, the defendant and the defendant's brother Terry had a confrontation at about 8:00 p.m. The defendant told Terry that "he would kill him and think nothing of it." The defendant made a motion with his hand and said that "he would cut his throat and think nothing of it." Jackson left the defendant, went to someone else's house, and then returned home and went to bed.

While in bed, Jackson heard the phone ring; and his mother came to his bedroom door, which was cracked. The next morning around 9:00 or 9:30 a.m., Jackson saw the defendant pacing in the road, which seemed abnormal. The defendant said "he f---ed up [96 1794 La.App. 1 Cir. 5] big time last night." The defendant said that he had been up all night and needed a good stiff drink. Jackson repeatedly asked the defendant what had happened, but the defendant would not say. They went to someone named Glenn's house, and the defendant sold Glenn some necklaces. The defendant and Jackson then went to the store at the Mobil station in Springfield to get drinks. Jackson testified that a bill in the money the defendant used "had a couple of spots of little blood on it." Later that day, Jackson, Glenn, and the defendant walked toward the defendant's parents' house, where Detectives Kearney Foster and Dillard Stewart were. Jackson testified the defendant said that "he killed her, but they can't prove it."

Lawrence Willis, Jr., the victim's brother, lived across from the victim and saw her the night before she was killed when he visited her at her bar at about 10:00 p.m. When Willis left at 11:45 or 11:55 p.m. to go home, he was the only person with the victim in the bar. He went to bed and was awakened by the dogs barking later that night, but he could not tell what time it was. Willis testified that the victim had a men's watch with a black face with diamonds and a two-tone gold and silver band, which she wore all the time and had on that night. According to Willis, the victim's watch was missing after she was murdered. He testified that, when he left the bar, the victim's hair was down with a bow in it.

Kearney Foster, chief of detectives with the Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office, went to the victim's house the day the body was discovered to investigate the crime. Det. Foster testified that the victim had mud on her feet and the bed had mud on it, but there was no mud in the victim's yard. The detectives found a folding blade knife in the clothes at the foot of the victim's bed. He and the other detectives thought they saw blood on the grass 10 feet from the victim's house, and he asked someone to call the local hospitals to find anyone who might have had a knife injury. (They later learned the substance was not blood.)

Det. Foster learned that a person named William Parker went [96 1794 La.App. 1 Cir. 6] to the hospital with a stab wound. He and Detective Stewart went to talk to the defendant to see if the defendant knew Parker since the defendant used to go with the victim for a number of years before they broke up. When they arrived at the defendant's house, his family was outside; and then the defendant walked up. The defendant's mother told the detectives that the defendant came home the night before at 10:30 p.m. and slept all night. The defendant was asked who Parker was, and he did not know; because everyone was talking at once, Det. Foster asked the defendant to take a ride with him and Det. Stewart.

The defendant voluntarily got in the car and told the detectives he knew he was a suspect and had nothing to hide. Det. Foster asked the defendant if he had any cuts or scratches, and the defendant replied that he had a cut on his hand. He showed them his left hand, which had two cuts; and they read him his rights. The defendant said he got the cuts hauling tin from Paul Denham. The detectives asked the defendant if the clothes he had on were the ones he had worn the previous night. He told them they were not, that he was wearing blue jeans with white spots the night before; he later told them the jeans were black. The defendant said they could look at the clothes he had worn....